Microsoft Corp. will host a conference for developers this week where Windows 8 and other new products will be unveiled. But there are things we'd love to see at the event but won't.

The event, called BUILD, Sept. 13 to 16 in Anaheim, California, will show modern hardware and software developers the (bleak? or rosy?) future of Windows. Microsoft is set to launch, in less than a year, Windows 8, the first version of Windows designed to run on PCs, tablets, and smartphones. Windows 8 will have a touch-screen interface as well as the traditional mouse and keyboard.

Microsoft Windows continues to be the top platform for desktops and laptops in the past 20 years. But PC sales have slowed, while demand of new computing devices, the tablets and smartphones, have skyrocketed. Apple Inc. tops the market in tablets with its iPad, and Google Inc.'s Android and Apple's iOS operating systems are dominating on smartphones.

Can Microsoft Catch Up?

Microsoft successfully entering mobile devices has its advantages. A unified ecosystem for all computing devices saves time, hassles and costs. For one, you just can't easily move what you're doing from a Windows desktop to an iPad or an Android tablet or smartphone. Save from browsing or sending e-mail, you need to pay for and download apps at the Apple App Store or Android Market to do word processing, play games, and other things.

As to a unified ecosystem, only Apple has been able to bridge the gap between desktops and mobile devices. Apple is the third largest PC maker in the U.S, the world's number one tablet maker and the world's number two (or three) smartphone vendor. Apple has its own platform for its devices (the MAC OS for PCs and the iOS for mobile devices) and is reaping money (via a 30:70 arrangement with developers) for the distribution of apps and content across iTunes and the Apple App Store.

Apple is about to launch the iCloud, the service that allows users to store data such as music files and documents on remote computer servers for download or access via multiple Apple devices. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft could do an Apple in terms of having a unified ecosystem. Note that Apple is both selling hardware and software altogether. Microsoft probably needs to buy Hewlett-Packard's personal computing business, which is actually for sale. Wouldn't it need to have touch screens for the laptops or desktop screens for Windows 8 to fully work?

Challenge for Developers

Talking about apps, it's great that Microsoft is wooing software and hardware developers just this early. Google's Android and Apple's iOS command a combined 90% of the tablet market and 60% of the smartphone market and each already has a wide portfolio apps provided by third party developers. Would developers invest in making apps when they're not sure if Windows 8 could penetrate the mobile devices market at all? Google has already fine-tuned Android, having Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean already in the pipeline. Apple's IOS 5, which will further improve the interface for Apple's mobile devices, is in the seventh stage of testing with developers.

Aside from a platform that could not beat the iOS and Android, what we can't possibly see at Windows BUILD are a wide array of devices that would use Windows 8. The tablet and smartphone market is not only a war about specs, it's also a war among platforms.

Platform Wars: Who has the Lead?

Samsung is reportedly unveiling a Windows 8-based tablet at the meet. HTC will start selling later this year two Windows phones: the HTC TITAN, which features a big 4.7-inch screen with a slim 9.9mm brushed aluminum shell, and a front facing camera, and the HTC RADAR, which has a front facing camera and aluminum unibody shell. Nokia Oyj is retiring the Symbian and has already announced that it would be releasing Windows phones later this year. But Samsung and HTC are the top vendors of Android devices. Other device-makers like Lenovo (IdeaPad & ThinkPad), Sony (Tablet S & P), Amazon (Kindle), Dell (Streak), and Toshiba (Thrive), among others, are using Android for their tablets and we still have to know whether they're shifting to Windows 8.

Consoles are the Future?

Beyond tablet and smartphones, Microsoft should also set its sights on consoles. Microsoft continues to lead console sales, with a market share of more than 40% in the U.S., for its Xbox 360. But Nintendo has already acknowledged that demand for its consoles and mobile gaming devices have been hit by the popularity of smartphones and tablets. To join in the tablet fad, Nintendo's WiiU, the successor to the Wii, works like a console when connected to a TV and some game controllers, but works like a typical media tablet when removed. But Microsoft believes that the Xbox 360 is still mid-way through its lifecycle and will continue through 2015. Microsoft is relying on a host of new releases in order to maintain sales of the six-year old console. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" launches Nov. 8 exclusive only to PCs and consoles and not on an iPad or any tablet.

Will Microsoft successfully enter the mobile devices market? Will the Bill Gates-founded firm continue to be relevant? Tell us what you think...